Oh, For the Love of Chemistry!
by PurpleGummiBear3
Summary: ::Sequel to From Dust to Diamonds:: AU Crossover - After the escapades of last time, Andrew decides it's time to conduct an experiment on everyone's favorite topic: Love. Of course, the test subjects will be his friends... they'll just have no knowledge of it. Because that's bound to end well... Collaboration with kittykat7290. Slight Outlaw Queen and McRollins.
1. Prologue

**AN: And we're back with a sequel!**

 **Prologue**

Andrew was returning home from his very humdrum day at work. He had just finished an experiment about hydrogen and its flammability and combustion levels. He was hoping that his girlfriend Alyssa would help him report his findings, over the years Andrew had discovered that although he could talk about his experiments for hours on end he was terrible at reporting them.

Upon entering his apartment Andrew became quickly aware of the fact that Alyssa wasn't there.

"Alyssa!" he called, but there was no answer. "Alyssa?" he asked just to make sure, when yet again he was met with silence he gave up.

Andrew made his way through the living room, which was crowded with chemistry equipment, and into his kitchen. He made his way over to the fruit bowl and grabbed a dark red apple, carefully avoiding the green apples. He had always found them to be too sour.

Flopping down on his 'oh-too-comfortable-couch' he picked up his phone and dialed Alyssa.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew walked into the police station and hobbled up to Emma's desk. He sat down and plopped his head on the table with a big sigh. Emma pretended not to notice him. He looked slightly up at her, then back down again.

"Sigh..." He said. Emma continued to write in her files, not looking up. Andrew frowned.

"I said SIGH!" He snapped. Emma laughed.

"Okay, okay, don't get snappy!" She put her file away. "Why are you _sighing?"_ She put extra emphasis on the 'sighing'.

"Alyssa's going on a date tonight." Andrew said. Emma looked puzzled.

"That's...great? Where are you guys going?" Emma asked hesitantly.

"I'm not joining her."

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

"Err..."

"Gee, you're helpful..."

"Well, I don't know how to deal with broken relationships," Emma protested.

"Sure..." Emma glared at him.

"My relationship is very happy, thank you very much!" Emma snapped. "I've been with my boyfriend for 4 years!"

"And yet, you're still not engaged? I think you should look into that." Andrew said. Emma fixed him with a glare.

"Hey! I have trust issues!" She cried. Andrew shook his head.

"Wait a sec, we're not talking about you here," He pointed to her. "We're talking about me!" He pointed to himself.

"Fine! Uh... Alyssa.. you..." She was thinking of something to say. "Um... I think you'll get back together!" Emma said. Andrew stared at her.

"What?"

"Well, soulmates always find their way back to each other!" Andrew blinked.

"And exactly how is Alyssa my soulmate? How do you even find a soulmate."

"I don't exactly _know_ Alyssa's your soulmate, but you can easily find your soulmate!" Andrew raised his eyebrow. "Come on! Everyone knows pixie dust will find your soulmate."

"..."

"What? Pixie dust never lies."

"I think Cath spiked your coffee." Andrew recently adopted the nickname for Catherine which very successfully made the Detective Inspector hate him even more. Catherine walked over at that moment.

"Hey! Soulmates always work out! Even if a curse holds you captive for 28 years!" Emma said.

"See! This is just proof that you read too much television and don't watch enough books!" Andrew said. Emma stared at him and exchanged glances with Catherine.

"Errr... When's the last time you slept?" Andrew scowled.

"Shut up."

"I'm going to regret this... but what happened?" Catherine asked.

"Alyssa's now officially my ex-girlfriend." Andrew responded.

"You just need to get out there again! Find another girlfriend!" Emma said encouragingly. Andrew pouted and stuck his lip out.

"I want a cookie not a girlfriend!" He declared. Andrew wouldn't stop frowning so she looked around her desk and found a bag of cookies somewhere in her desk. She opened the bag and pulled out a cookie.

"Here." She said and dropped the cookie in front of Andrew. His eyes lit up and he shoved the cookie in his mouth.

"Fanks!" He said with his mouth full. Catherine stared at him.

"He's kinda like a dog." She stated. Andrew looked flabbergasted. He opened his mouth to retort, but accidentally inhaled and proceeded to choke while Emma and Catherine did nothing. They calmly waited for his choking to ceasing providing no help what-so-ever. Andrew finally spit the cookie out.

"Pft! Baahh! The cookie tried to kill me!" He cried. Emma smiled.

"Fine, I won't give you anymore cookies." Andrew looked utterly devastated.

"Well, he did just break up with his girlfriend..." Catherine said, humoring him.

"Which he expressed he did not care about." Emma reminded her.

"No!" Andrew said. "I said cookies take priority."

"So cookies over girlfriends?"

"YES! _Cookies. Trump. Girlfriends."_ Andrew huffed and snatched the cookies from Emma, storming out of the police department.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Catherine stood leaning against the side of her car in the pick up/drop off lane of the Manhattan airport. She watched as tourists and businessmen/women ran frantically back and forth either trying to find their airline or a way home or to a hotel.

A few weeks ago Catherine had invited her long time friend Kono Kalakaua to visit New York, and was now waiting for her to arrive. At thought of seeing one of her best friends for the first time in about a year, Catherine couldn't contain her excitement and was bouncing on her toes waiting the other woman's arrival.

Catherine had met Kono when her father was stationed in Pearl Harbor. Kono was training to become a professional surfer and Catherine had decided to enter a surf competition even though she had only been surfing for a few months. Long story short Kono was in first place and Catherine needed a perfect ten to move from fourth to third. Kono had just caught what would probably be her last wave when she carved up the wave to quickly and fell. After close to minute when she didn't surface Catherine, being the daughter of a Navy officer, decided that the competition wasn't worth it and she had to go see if she could help. Kono ended up being fine despite the fact she had blown out her knee, both women ended being disqualified but the two became close friends and we're both devastated when the Admiral was relocated to New York.

As Kono exited the building she spotted her friend leaning against the familiar blue corvette and immediately ran towards her.

"I missed you!" Kono said as the two women hugged.

"I missed you too."

"Am I gonna die, from lack of ocean water."

"You'll only be here for a week I'm sure you'll survive" Catherine laughed, "Anyways is it ok if we stop at the precinct before going to the apartment?" Catherine decided that, since she was alone in the apartment for the next couple of weeks and hotels in New York are expensive and an empty room is hard to come by, Kono could just stay in the guest room while she was here.

"Yeah sure."

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"Hey Catherine." Regina said as Catherine and Kono entered the squad room.

"Hey Regina. Looking for Robin."

"No I'm actually just dropping something off for him."

"Yeah, if you ever see me doing something nice like that for a guy, have Emma shoot me because it's probably an imposter."

"Whatcha talking about?" Emma said as she came up with Andrew and threw her arms around Catherine and Regina

"Guys." Regina answered

"You know, guys are technically useless" Emma said as Catherine wriggled out from under her arm.

"Hey! Without us the population would quickly decline into nothing." Andrew said coming up to the group of women.

"I'm sorry, _who_ gives birth?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, but guys are needed in the whole 'baby process'." Andrew responded, defending his kind.

"Not necessarily. Female bone marrow can be used as sperm and due to there being no Y chromosome in the marrow, and that way the baby could only be female. So, Males. Are. Useless." Emma said mocking one of Andrew's scientific rants.

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say." Andrew responded, "Anyways who's this?" he said pointing at Kono.

"Oh yeah, guys this is my friend Kono, Kono this is Emma my partner, her friend Andrew, and Regina, she's the girlfriend of one of the other officers." Catherine said, introducing them.

"It's nice to meet you guys." Kono said.

"Wait, Catherine you have friends other than Emma?!" Andrew jokingly exclaimed.

"Shut up, chemistry boy."

" _Man."_

"So? Catherine" Emma said questionably.

"So." Catherine responded

"How's the Super SEAL?" Catherine's face turned a lovely shade of red and the proud Detective Inspector was rendered speechless and ducked her head.

"Whoa, whoa hold up." Kono said. "Who is this 'Super- SEAL'?"

"No-one!" Catherine responded quickly.

"Her boyfriend" Emma corrected and triumphantly marched out to the parking lot with Andrew in tow. Kono rounded on Catherine.

"Spill! NOW!"

"There's nothing to tell" Catherine said walking over to her desk.

"LIES. You forget how well I know you Cath, I know when you're lying." Kono said following closely.

"Ugh. Fine." She said picking up a couple files and heading back towards the door. "His name's Steve, he's a navy SEAL…. uhh I don't know, what else do you want to know?"

"Well first of all I thought your dad said that he didn't want you dating Navy officers."

"He did, but when do I ever listen to what my dad says?" Catherine said as the two women got back into the car.

"True." Kono laughed, "Anyway do I get to meet him?"

"Umm, I don't know. He's not scheduled to be state-side for about another week or two, but that changes sometimes."

"See that is why people know you're related to a navy officer."

"What?" Catherine asked, clearly confused on her friends random comment.

"You said 'state-side'. No one says that unless they know someone in the military."

"Whatever."

"Anyways, how did the two of you meet?"

"Well I guess it's story time then. Emma, Regina's boyfriend Robin and I were working this case where the killer was leaving a bunch of ash at the crime scene. We had absolutely no leads but we had four victims, one of which was a Navy Seal. Anyway Robin, Emma and I were sitting in the squadroom when Steve came in, clearly upset. He said that the NYPD wasn't doing it's job and some other stuff I don't remember, honestly I was lost in his eyes, but I managed to get him to agree that the NYPD needed to be able to have the case. Just then though Andrew burst through the door, almost tripped over a desk and then pretty much solved the case." Catherine frowned at this last part.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Catherine Rollins walked into the police department and stopped short at the sight of a three foot, purple and orange glowing lava lamp situated on her desk.

"Who the hell did this to my department?" She demanded. Andrew walked in at that moment. He looked at the lava lamp and frowned. The glowing blobs weren't reaching the top of the lamp.

"Heeyy! I did not pay for that kind of lamp!" He pouted, glaring at the lamp as if that would make it work better.

"I should've known." Catherine sighed and walked over to her desk. Emma entered the department to see Catherine frowning and Andrew pouting.

"Err..." She said looking between them. "What's with the lamp?"

"Why? Because I can." Andrew said going over and hugging the lamp. "Ow!" He jumped back, the lava lamp burning his hands.

"It's outta here in the next 5 minutes or I'm dumping it in your car." Catherine said to Andrew. Andrew crossed his arms and smiled.

"I don't have a car!" He said smugly.

"I don't think that's something you should be proud of..." Emma muttered.

"Well then how'd you get here?" Catherine asked. Andrew pointed to Emma.

"Emma drove me." He said.

"Fine." Said Catherine, unplugging the lamp. "I'll dump it in Emma's car." Emma whipped around.

"Back away from my baby or so help me I will skin you alive!" She yelled. Andrew and Catherine stared at her.

"It's your fault for bringing him here." Catherine said to Emma.

"What was I supposed to do?"

" _Not_ bring him here."

"He would just come anyway." Emma said shrugging.

"Fine." Catherine turned to Andrew. "You're officially banned from this Department."

"What?" Andrew yelped. "You can't do that!" Catherine calmly picked up a piece of licorice from the bowl on her desk.

"Wanna find out?" She looked innocently at Andrew. He huffed and walked out of the room.

"Nice." Emma said, picking up a file. Catherine smiled. Emma looked up, puzzled.

" _Can_ you even ban anyone?" She asked. Catherine looked thoughtful.

"Who knows?" She bit into her licorice. Emma shrugged and both women walked out of the police department.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Andrew!" Emma called as she let herself into Andrew's apartment.

"Whoa, no need to shout I'm right here." Andrew said from the couch.

"Oh…" Emma started as she turned around from closing and locking the door. "Holy crap!"

"What?!"

"It's… it's clean. You picked up all your equipment. Whoa this is weird."

"Hey it wasn't that bad!" Andrew said defensively and then returned to the papers spread across the coffee table in front of him.

"Yes it was. Anyways what's all this?" Emma said indicating to the papers as she took a seat beside Andrew on the couch.

"Research."

"Research?"

"Yes." Andrew said trading the paper in his hand for another one in the pile.

"Why don't you just do research on your computer?"

"I was. When I narrowed it down to a couple key sources I printed them out to read and compare them closer."

"Okay. You do you Andrew. You do you." Emma said picking up a page from the table. "So why are you researching…" Emma paused to read to title of the article, "Dopamine?"

"I'm distracting myself, and trying to get ideas for a new experiment."

"Wonderful, just what the world needs, another one of your inane experiments."

"I think you meant _effective_."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey Robin!" Regina called, a big smile spreading over her face. She and Robin became close friends after Robin's wife, Marian, and Regina's fiance, Daniel were killed 10 months ago. They helped support one another deal with their losses.

"Gina!" Robin smiled and hugged her. "Ready?"

"Yeah." She smiled as he opened the car door for her.

Robin had prepared a weekend away for the two of them on the outskirts of town, and they had decided to leave Friday afternoon to maximize the time they could stay.

They started the black Mercedes and started the route to the countryside. Regina rolled down the window and leaned towards the wind closing her eyes. Robin glanced over at her and smiled.

"Ready for a break?" He asked her.

"Yes. I love New York but there's so many people!" Regina said. Robin laughed. "Sometimes I wish I just lived in Kansas or something!" She finished, sticking her hand out the window.

Robin turned the wheel to follow the winding road as they drove away from the city and entered a mountain path surrounded by tall, green trees.

"Well, now you can spend the week at a lake with the deers and the squirrels and no people for 50 miles!" Robin said lightheartedly. Regina laughed.

"I think I found a synonym for heaven!" She cried as the wind whipped her hair around. Robin laughed and they drove further into the mountain.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Catherine and Kono walked through Central Park, chatting about the different things happening in their lives and occasionally stopping to admire part of the landscape around them. Suddenly Catherine's phone rang scaring off a flock of ducks.

Checking the caller I.D., Catherine turned to Kono, "Sorry I have to take this, but it shouldn't be too long." Walking a couple feet away she answered the phone, "Hey there sailor."

"Hey there." Steve's voice came across the other line, "Your friend still there?"

"Kono? Yeah she's still here. Do you know when you're coming home?"

"Should be in the next couple of days."

"Okay." Catherine said softly.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Fine… just… I really miss you."

"Same, but hey, it's not that much longer."

"I know."

"Oh, I got a personal call from the Admiral today. Should I be worried?" Steve lightly joked, in an attempt to cheer up his girlfriend.

"Maybe." Catherine let out a slight laugh.

"I should go."

"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you." Catherine said, ending the call and returning to her friend's side.

"Who was that?" Kono asked.

"Steve."

"Ah, Mr. Super SEAL"

"Shut up. Anyways when does your flight leave, tomorrow."

"Noon."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I figured out what to do!" Andrew burst through the doors of the police station. Yes, the one he's 'banned' from. Emma whipped around. She was the only one there at the moment given it was still pretty early in the morning.

"You're gonna call Alyssa and get back together so you can stop moping!"

"No."

"Oh... Go on,"

"I'm going to conduct an experiment!" He declared.

"Oh, Lord help us all..."

" _No,"_ Andrew rolled his eyes. "It's not dangerous. I'm going to research the chemistry behind love!" Emma stared at him.

"What?"

"Well, I already researched about it, but everyone pretty much has."

"Yes, because it totally _primary_ school stuff." Andrew rolled his eyes...again.

"You can help me with the experiment!" He said, smiling.

"Experiment including..." Emma said, prompting Andrew to continue.

"Okay well there are three stages of falling in love; Lust, Attraction, and Attachment. I want to see if we can spot the signs of these stages in live subjects." He said laying out papers on Emma's desk.

"Live subjects being..." Emma prompted again, dreading the answer.

"Robin and Cath." Andrew stated. Emma's eyes bugged out of her head.

"What?" She yelped. "Robin and Catherine aren't together!"

"No, that's not what I meant." Andrew sighed. "Robin has a new girlfriend, right? And Cath has that seal...otter guy. You know, the one that's like a fisherman or.. something." Emma deadpanned.

"You mean the Navy SEAL?" She said.

"Yeah! That guy! What was his name? Dave? Kevin? Uh.."

" _Steve."_

"Yeah! Steve." Emma rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics.

"So what, we're just gonna stalk them on their dates?"

"No! Observe from a proper distance." Andrew corrected.

"What are we exactly looking for?" Emma was still lost.

"Ha! So you are on board! Yes!" Andrew pumped his fist in the air. "But we're looking for how they behave on their dates. Since both couples have been together for a little while, I think they would be past the first stage and in the second. We want to see if these chemicals are present in their bloodstream."

Emma still marveled at how quickly Andrew could switch from being her goofy friend to a completely professional scientist.

"The second stage is.. attraction?" She clarified.

"Yeah, attraction is like the 'love struck' stage." Andrew made quotation marks in the air for emphasis. "In this stage, it's hard for the person to think of anything else besides their lover. They usually lose their appetite or sleep less, and are constantly daydreaming."

"Oh, so I just what? Look to see if I can catch Catherine daydreaming?" Emma asked.

"Well, yes and no. That's not really what's important. A major role of this stage is played by a group of neurotransmitters called monoamines." Emma nodded. Andrew was using words she couldn't understand, he's definitely back to normal.

"There are three, you've probably heard of the first. Dopamine."

"Ah." Emma confirmed.

"It's also something that can be stimulated by cocaine and nicotine which is what makes them so addictive." Andrew finished.

"Yeah, that was in our training." Emma commented.

"But the second is norepinephrine, though, you probably know it as adrenaline." Andrew said. Emma nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I always get rushes of adrenaline on car chases."

"It gets the heart racing and makes people start sweating. That's why people always say their palms are sweating when they're around their crush." Andrew said, elaborating.

"Oh! Yeah that happened when I met my boyfriend -" Emma stopped short glancing at Andrew. He was waiting expectantly. Emma had always refused to tell Andrew her boyfriend's name and refused to introduce the two. Now, Andrew's taken to calling him 'Emma's imaginary boyfriend'.

"Go on..." Andrew prompted.

"No, you go on."

"No, really."

"Please I _insist."_ Andrew sighed, knowing he wouldn't get anymore information out of Emma.

"Fine. The third and last monoamine for the second stage is serotonin. It's a mood stimulator most commonly associated with depression, but it is one of love's most important chemicals. "

"Ok, I think I get. Whats the third stage? It's like attachment or something right?"

"Yes actually. The third stage is attachment. It has two important hormones that are released by the nervous system, Oxytocin and Vasopressin. Attachment is the stage that keeps people together, for a long lasting commitment, Like when they want to start a family. Oxytocin is found in breast milk, it creates strong bonds between mother and child and then between adult partners later in life. Vasopressin on the other hand controls the kidneys, making sure they don't fail."

"You lost me. What do kidneys have to do with the third stage of love?"

"Well lets just say Vasopressin presents itself in times of high intimacy."

"Ok I did not need to know that."

"You asked" Andrew said putting his hands up defensively.

"So we just _observe_ their dates and check for these neurotransmitting things?" Emma asked.

"Uh, kind of? Let's just say that..."

"Cool. I'm in." Emma declared. Andrew smiled. "And that's it right?" She asked.

"Well, there's one more thing I forgot to mention." Andrew said meekly. Emma frowned.

"Andrew..." She warned.

"We need to get blood samples without their knowledge."

"ANDREW!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew waited for the crosswalk signal to turn green. He was on his way to meeting Emma and Catherine for lunch. Despite Catherine's displeasure with the cheery chemist she could always go for a nice ham sandwich.

The light turned green and Andrew sauntered up to the restaurant. Catherine and Emma were already seated at a table.

"Ladies." Andrew announced his presence.

"Oh! Andrew!" Emma turned around and shoved a sandwich at him. "Eat this!"

"Why?"

"Since when do you care?"

"True." He took a big bite of the sandwich. Catherine chuckled.

"You know I could've easily poisoned that." She said. Andrew stopped chewing. Emma swatted Catherine.

"Shush, I'm trying to get his opinion." Catherine rolled her eyes.

"Opinion on what?" Andrew asked.

"That this is the best sandwich in the world." Emma said.

"And his opinion matters because..." Catherine asked.

"He's from Italy!" Emma said.

"Really?"

"Yeah that's why I wave my hands around all the time, I'm Italian it's what I do."

"So?! The sandwich?" Emma asked, excitedly. Andrew took another bite and chewed thoughtfully.

"It could use more mustard." He said.

"Be serious Andrew."

"I'm being completely serious. Can I get another ice cube?! Ice cube please!" He held up his glass. Emma slapped him on the arm. "Ow!" He pouted.

"Fine." Emma opened a bottle of mustard and squeezed a big blob onto Andrew's sandwich.

"Oy!"

"You wanted more mustard." Catherine pointed out.

"You people... have no culinary sense!" Andrew says.

"Says the chemist..." Emma said. Catherine nudged her.

"Cooking is Chemistry, Em." Catherine said. Emma's face turned red.

"Dammit." She hung her head. Andrew shifted and stood up from his chair.

"Alright, I'm off," Andrew said dejectedly. "I'm going to get a golden toof."

"Toof?" Emma said.

"Yes, toof!" Andrew went on his way to becoming a pirate.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day Emma drove her yellow bug to Andrew's apartment to work on his experiment. Why she's doing this is beyond her.

"Andrew!" Emma called as she walked into Andrew's apartment. He was currently in his kitchen showing paperwork to someone. This someone was Brian Delgado, Andrew's best friend and physicist. His personality matched Andrew's as they both loved their work, and got very excited about it. For example...

"Dude!" Brian said putting down one of the papers and turning to Andrew.

"Dude!"

"Duuuude!" Brian high fived Andrew.

"Beats that other experiment right?!"

"That thing's dust, man!" They high fived again. Emma stared at them, mentally facepalming. Yup. Definitely Andrew's best friend. They turned to look at the blonde sergeant, noticing her for the first time.

"Emma!" Andrew said. Emma walked up to the table and crossed her arms.

"So, you like the experiment then?" Emma asked Brian.

"Who wouldn't?!" Emma raised an eyebrow.

"And I guess you also have no problem stalking our friends on their dates?" She asked.

"It's not stalking, it's _science_!" Brian stressed. Emma shook her head and sat down in a chair. "Well, if you don't like it, why are you doing it?"

"I needed somewhere to try out these new glasses." Emma put on a pair of sunglasses with a black frame. "It's too damn foggy these days." Brian shook his head and raised an eyebrow at Andrew, silently saying 'this is who you hang out with?'. Andrew shrugged.

" _Cops_."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hey, Cath." Steve said as he walked into the kitchen, where Catherine was cooking dinner on the stove.

"Yeah, what's up?" Catherine said turning to face him as he walked in.

"I just got off the phone with Emma and I wanted to tell you that I invited her and Andrew over for dinner." Steve said as he sorted through a pile of mail on the counter.

"You did what!" Catherine said, completely stopping everything she was doing.

"Woah, Cath calm down. Aren't they your friends?"

"Emma's my friend, well kinda... Andrew... he's errr... I find him particularly hard to deal with." She responded as she returning to her cooking.

"I sure you can deal with him for one night."

"We're talking about the man who ordered a three foot tall lava lamp and sent it to the precinct. He put it on my desk. _On my desk,_ Steve." Steve laughed and walked over to Catherine, enveloping her in a hug she did not return. She continued to pout at the prospect of dinner.

"I'm sure if you can handle armed robberies, you can handle a dinner with a chemist who is a very nice guy in my opinion." Steve said.

"He is a nice guy." Catherine stated. "It's annoying as hell." Steve chuckled and kissed her forehead.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey," Emma said as Steve opened the door. He smiled. "She's okay with this?"

"Err.. more or less. She's still stinging about the whole 'lamp on her desk' thing." Steve whispered. Emma nodded and walked into the apartment to console her boss/friend/angry host.

"Cath?" Catherine was sitting on the couch stuffing her face with potato chips. She glanced up.

"Is Satan's spawn here?" She asked.

"Uh.." Emma said. "You really hate him that much?" Catherine frowned.

"No, she's just upset that he solved that last big case when she didn't." Steve said, walking by. Catherine threw a chip at his head.

"Oh, so that's why you don't want him to come around the station anymore huh?" Emma raised her eyes. Catherine glared at her. "Oh, come on! You can't really be expected to know that much science! Or even make the connection to _diamonds!_ "

"Well, Andrew did..." Steve said. Emma shot him a warning look.

"Not helping..." She said through gritted teeth. "I mean it was so random, _only_ Andrew would be able to see it." Catherine growled.

"We went through chemistry training." Catherine said.

"Yes, but Andrew is actually a chemist. 'A bloody good one' as Robin would say." Catherine huffed. "Wow, really grumpy today huh?"

"Also, I think it's that time-" Steve started.

"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Both Catherine and Emma yelled at the same time.

"I'd watch it, there are two of us and one of you, we could do some serious damage." Emma said threateningly. Steve held his hands up in surrender.

"Careful Steve, I love you but I have no problem clawing your eyes out." Catherine said.

"Yup, I can feel the love from here."

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When Andrew arrived, Catherine had eaten half of the chips, and Steve was wearing the other half.

"I, uh... missed something." Andrew said standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Emma muttered. She was the one cleaning up the chips that did not make it in Catherine's mouth or on Steve's shirt.

"Andrew! Come in!" Steve said. "There, balance is restored, we are no longer outnumbered." Catherine scoffed as she set the table for dinner. Andrew was totally lost, but went along with it anyway.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The four of them spent the next hour and a half enjoying dinner cooked by Catherine, and discussing various things. Of course, the topic of Catherine and Emma's work came up.

"Wait, someone tried to hack into a bank's security system?" Steve asked about one of Catherine and Emma's cases.

"Well, they did and we could never figure out who or where they were operating." Emma said. Catherine nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, everytime we thought we got somewhere it turned out to be a dead end. It went on for weeks.

"It's like the time google tried to kill me!" Andrew declared. Emma, Catherine, and Steve stopped and just looked at him.

"I thought only cookies tried to kill you." Emma joked

"...Not cool."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Bye!" Steve waved to Emma and Andrew as they walked out of the apartment. "They're nice!" Catherine looked up at him.

"You know Andrew calls me Cath." Steve's eyes widened.

"Okay, let's hold off on those dinners for now." Catherine laughed.

"Jealous?" She teased, as Steve pulled her to his chest and placing his nose on the top of her head.

"Should I be?" he mumbled. Catherine walked off laughing and Steve smiled.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"There." Emma said as she and Andrew got in her car. "Is that good enough for your experiment?" Andrew buckled his seatbelt and Emma pulled into the road.

"No." Andrew stated. Emma's eyes widened.

"What the hell!"

"Hey! Calm down! We can't be present on their date, they have to be alone for this experiment to have accurate data!" Andrew protested.

"Ugh!" Emma cried.

"This is the only way for the experiment to actually be legitimate." Andrew said. Emma gripped the wheel and let out a breath.

"I'm going to end up arresting myself on stalking charges aren't I?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Andrew said, "But don't forget we have to go observe one of Regina and Robin's dates also."

"Whoa slow down there. Robin and Regina aren't even in town." Andrew pouted.

"Then we'll wait."

"Andrew... you're going to be the death of me." The yellow bug continued driving into the night.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Gah!" Andrew cried throwing a marker across the room and picking up another one. He was currently on the floor of his apartment drawing on a giant poster. After their dinner, Emma crashed at his apartment, so his cry roused her from sleep.

"It's. Too. Early." She grumbled turning over on the couch.

"Nine a.m. Emma, the sun is shining, the day has started." Andrew said while frowning at the poster below him, scribbling on it. Emma growled and reluctantly looked at Andrew.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Andrew continued to scribble, not answering as his marker ran out ink yet again.

"Stupid marker." He mumbled throwing it across the room and picking another one up. Emma slowly got up from the couch shielding her eyes from the sun. She padded up behind Andrew and looked over his shoulder. He was coloring a poster that read: Help save lives! Donate blood today! St. Barton's Hospital, 5555 Lexington Ave. At the bottom were multiple pictures of cute, sick children.

"This is terrible!" Emma cried. "You're using their emotions against them!"

"It's for the _science_ , Emma!" Andrew whined.

"Next thing you know, I'm going to start finding severed heads in your refrigerator for the sake of 'science'!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

That night Emma and Andrew were seated in a restaurant. Emma was happily wearing her new sunglasses. "Isn't this a little... creepy?" Emma asked, with a sideways glance across the restaurant towards Catherine and Steve.

"Sh!" Andrew said. "Just zip it and eat your cannoli!" He continued to scribble down notes.

"I think it's a little sad that you're bribing me with food." Emma said. "But I'm not complaining." She tore into her cannoli with glee.

"Well I wasn't gonna come to a restaurant as nice as this by myself, and it seems cannolis are the only way you would join me."

"Hey, don't under…" Emma started, but Andrew quickly interrupted her,

"Shhh! They're doing something else." Andrew said staring off in the direction of their friend. Emma took a quick glance at her partner.

"Oh my gosh they're holding hands!" Emma exclaimed sarcastically, "Andrew you do realize that most couples hold hands?" She said taking a slightly more serious tone.

"Yes, I do but…"

"But nothing! You don't need to catalog their each and every little movement."

"The more I observe the more accurate my results will be"

"Yes, but a slight change in their bodily position is not going to affect your results."

"You don't know that, Now just shut it, finish your cannoli, and let me work.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"No, I don't think it's brutal, it's the circle of life." Catherine said. Her arm was looped around Steve's. They were currently strolling down the street, having just finished their date.

"But the hawk was devouring that pidgin!" Steve protested. They were currently discussing a video that had been circling around the city.

"Yes, and when that hawk dies, another animal will eat it." Catherine said simply. Steve frowned.

"Geez, you're heartless." Catherine rolled her eyes, but Steve suddenly stopped walking. They were standing outside St. Barton's Hospital where a nurse was currently setting up a sign. The sign was asking people to donate blood.

"Aw." Steve said looking at the pictures of children on the bottom of the sign. Catherine looked sympathetic and then frowned when she heard Steve sniff.

"Are you crying?" She asked incredulously.

"No!" Steve said. "It's very cold out here!" Catherine rolled her eyes and walked up to the nurse.

"Hi." She said to the nurse. "We would like to donate some blood. And a tissue for my girlfriend over there." She gestured to Steve who frowned.

"You know, by insulting me you just insulted womankind." Steve commented as they followed the nurse into the free clinic. Catherine glanced at him sideways and shrugged.

"Worth it."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew's phone beeped as he and Emma got out of Emma's car.

"Who's that?" Emma asked.

"One of my contacts." Andrew said typing on his phone. "He said Cath and Steve were seen donating blood to the hospital." Emma raised her eyebrow.

"Good?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to be there to supervise." He said.

"Err... Well I'm just surprised you actually got them to donate... well I guess I can't really say donate."

"I guess we just need to follow Robin on one of his dates." Andrew said nonchalantly as he and Emma started walking up the stairs in his apartment building.

"Andrew!" Emma exclaimed

"What?"

"Isn't one date enough."

"No." Andrew pouted

"Ugh"

"I told you I needed as much detail as possible."

"Yes but you took notes on like, every single muscle movement that either Steve or Catherine made."

"But that's two people! Only two people Emma. I need a bigger sample population."

"Sample, what?"

"I need a bigger basis for my data to make it more accurate."

"Fine but if we get caught I'm telling them you drugged and kidnapped me."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Emma and Andrew once again sat in a restaurant across the room from their other pair of friends who were laughing at something one of them said.

"Ok even I think it's sad I can bribe you with food." Andrew said glancing across the table at the blonde who was currently devouring a slice of chocolate cake.

"Shuddup" Emma said with a mouth full of cake. Swallowing she stated "I still think this is creepy."

"Whatever" Andrew mumbled turning back towards Robin and Regina.

"Anyway, after this will you have enough data?" Emma questioned

"Maybe"

"Maybe! Andrew!" Emma yelped, "If you're arrested for stalking cops, I'm not helping you. Especially from the wrath of detective hard-ass."

"Eh… She's not that bad."

"I would watch your mouth chemistry boy."

" _Man."_

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew and Emma walked 'oh, so casually' through the clinic doors and walked behind the desk. Andrew grabbed one of the disposable lab coats and put it on to 'blend in'. Emma flat out refused one. So two people stood awkwardly in the hospital free clinic. One was a man in a flimsy lab coat, and one was an angry looking woman in a red leather jacket. Totally inconspicuous.

"So, why didn't you just use your own lab coat?" Emma mumbled.

"It's uh... at the dry cleaners..." Andrew said sheepishly.

"What'd you spill on it?" Emma asked. Andrew looked.

"How did you-"

"You're Andrew." Andrew huffed. "So? What? You spill pizza sauce on your lab coat and now you're disguise is a crappy paper coat?"

"No! It wasn't food! Catherine's the messy eater not me. It was just some potassium nitrate..." Andrew finished. Emma raised her eyebrow.

"Hm.."

"Oh, it's part of the job." Andrew snapped. "I cleaned the chemicals but it left a stain. Besides, at least I have a disguise. I thought stakeouts were your thing."

"Yes, they are. This is not a stakeout. This is a farce." Andrew spluttered.

"Farce! Look the doctors just took their blood! And Cath and Steve's are already in the hospital." Andrew said triumphantly.

"Just one question." Emma asked.

"Hm?"

"How do you plan to get that blood now?" Andrew's eyes widened.

"Crap."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma walked through the hospital doors, fairly certain she was about to do something against the law. She walked up to a doctor standing at a desk writing in a patient's chart. His name was Max Bergman and he was a long time friend of Emma's and Andrew's.

He turned around when he saw Emma coming towards him. "Em." He said in greeting.

"Precious cupcake." She replied. Yes. He is Max the precious cupcake. Max rolled his eyes at the nickname and pulled a tray full of bags containing blood towards him. The labels on the bag read; "Locksley, Robin" "Mills, Regina" "McGarrett, Steve" and "Rollins, Catherine". That last one is surprising. Emma never thought Catherine would willing give her blood without proper beforehand research. The always careful Admiral's daughter.

"You're amazing." Emma said taking the blood samples. "But, err... isn't this like, _illegal?"_

"Normally, yes." Max said. "But I actually got permission, you just need to sign these forms."

"Oh!" Emma's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "How'd you swing that?"

"Well, I just mentioned Andrew's name.." Max trailed off. Emma nodded.

"Got it." She said. Andrew is very highly regarded in the scientific community, especially this hospital. One of the victim's from Andrew and Emma's last case had a brother. The brother is currently the Chief of Surgery at this hospital. He was very grateful that Andrew caught his brother's murderer.

Emma signed the papers and gave them back to Max. "Cool." He said.

"Uh, isn't donated blood directed to a specific charity?" Emma asked.

"Yes but there was a 'no preference' choice." Max said. "Your friends both checked that box, although I could say the nurses tried to talk them into that one."

"Ah," Emma said. "Yes, they are donating to the charity of Emma's sanity. It's cause is to keep Emma out of jail so she doesn't have to illegally obtain this blood for her crazy best friend."

"That's quite a mouthful." Max chuckled.

"Yup!" Emma called as she walked out the doors. "Thanks Max, you're a cupcake." Max smiled and shook his head, turning back to his work.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma walked into Andrew's lab and tossed the blood at him. Ok, not tossed, but in the same manner.

"How did you not plan out a way to get the blood?!"

"Well… I don't plan." Andrew stated.

"What? How do you not plan?" Emma yelped.

"I just don't!" Andrew snapped.

"Geez, you're just damn lucky I've got connections."

"I believe the hospital knows me."

"But I know precious cupcake." Emma said triumphantly.

"Fine you can take like... 12% credit."

"How generous."

"Yes, very much so." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. So how do we do this, we just analyze the blood and…?"

"Yes and then we can figure out the bsofhdf fekjdksn... BAH! When I find out who keeps turning the temperature up to 78o I swear I will kick their ass." Andrew said angrily. He marched over to the thermostat and harshly pushed the down button.

"Ok, forget the thermostat for like two minutes. How are we supposed to analyze the blood?"

"Well we put it in the GC MAS SPEC."

"The huh?"

"The Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer."

"Still no help."

"Gas chromatography mass spectrometry is a technique, consisting of a gas chromatograph and a mass spectrometer." Andrew went into his 'professional chemist' mode. "This is where complex mixtures of chemicals can be separated, then identified and quantified. With blood it separates out the different chemicals within the blood and then tells us how much of each chemical there is."

"Okay, separating and identifying..." Emma looked confused.

"Yes, well the machine using things like polarity to separate different particles. You know how a positive side of a magnet won't bond with another positive side of a magnet. That's basically polarity. The positively charged particles are drawn to negatively charged ones and repelled from others that are positively charged."

"Right, like how the Earth has different polarities." Emma commented.

"Exactly." Andrew said. "Then once it has them all separate, it can identify which chemicals make up that blood. So we can search for the chemicals that show signs of the stages of love. Especially since these samples were taken relatively close to the times of their dates. What were the chemicals again?"

Emma shuffled through the papers spread out on the table. Grabbing a couple she read them out loud. "Stage one or two?"

"Two."

"Okay, the prominent chemicals during the second stage of falling in love are part of the neurotransmitters, monoamines. Dopamine, norepinephrine (adrenaline), and serotonin." Emma recited from the paper in her hand. Andrew scribbled down those chemicals on a notepad.

"Okay, so when we get the lab results we can look to see if these chemicals are more prominent than usual and confirm this research." Andrew said setting up the GC MAS SPEC.

"So then all we have to do is fill the little beaker things with blood, put them in the GC MAS whatever and let the machine do all the work?"

"To put it in layman's terms."

"Well that's good enough for me."

"Okay, when this finishes we'll check for spikes in dopamine, norepinephrine (adrenaline), and serotonin." Emma nodded

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma was sitting at Andrew's work space when the GC MAS SPEC made a sudden dinging noise, causeing her to jump out of her seat.

"Holy hell!" Emma shouted, gasping for air and grasping at her heart.

"Well that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one." Andrew said helping his friend catch her balance. Said friend swatted at his hands. "That was Mr. MAS SPEC, it's done analyzing the blood."

"So I can go home now!"

"Not just yet." Andrew said pulling up the analysis on his computer. "Whoa"

"What" Emma said groggily.

"There are definite spikes in the dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels, in all of the samples."

"Sooo… Thats a good thing, right?"

"Yep."

"What are these other smaller spikes on some of the samples."

"What sma… Oh! It looks like two of the samples have some spikes of oxytocin and vasopressin. Hm, I guess there are appearances of some of the chemicals from the third stage." Andrew said.

"Awe! Does that mean their relationships are going to last forever?" Emma squeed. Andrew frowned at her.

"How do you mean?" He asked, puzzled.

"Didn't you the third stage was attachment. Like, when the couple was ready to settle?" She asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Yes, the third stage is attachment, but this doesn't mean their relationship is going to work out. It just means they're still falling in love. Even if they do end up settling, you never know if it's really going to work out." Andrew said writing on his notepad. He walked over to the fume hood to get the pen he left there earlier, but stopped. He picked up the pipette and stared at it.

"A bird crapped on this." He kept staring at it. "How did a bird crap on this? This is not okay." He said shoving his head inside the fume hood and staring up the air vent.

"It's just a little bird crap chill."

"NO! I will not 'chill'" he said using air quotes, "This was a perfectly good pipette but now it needs to be thrown away"

"Okay, Okay." Emma said defensively "On the other hand what is your conclusion?"

"That after roughly 10 months of being together the second stage chemicals are highly present and even the third stage chemicals are slightly apparent in some cases."

"Great so we're done!" Emma exclaimed

"No."

"No! What do you mean no!"

"We have to write a lab report."

"Oh no. No no no. Not we. You. You have to write a lab report, I have to go home and sleep." Emma said as she turned to walk out the door.

"Wait"

"What" Emma slightly growled

"I need a ride home." Andrew said, smiling innocently.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A couple days later Emma walked into Andrew's apartment carrying a bag a fresh bagels. He was currently sitting at his desk.

"Bagels are up?" Emma said setting them down on the table. "Why am I always doing crap for you? Come on, eat!" She scanned around Andrews apartment, it was back to it's usually messy state. Papers were _everywhere._

"You know, I bet if I didn't feed you, you'd never eat."

"I'm almost done. Just proofreading." Andrew said scanning his computer screen.

"Writing the report?" Emma asked, putting her keys down.

"Yuppies." Andrew said. "I've talked to a couple newspapers to see if they'd be interested." He pulled out a paper and thrusted it at Emma. "Here, sign this release form and I can put your name on it." He smiled. She took the paper and signed her name. She put it back down on a pile of similar papers. Noticing these were more release forms she turned to Andrew.

"Are these for the others?" She asked. Andrew nodded, still looking at his computer. Emma frowned. "So, you need them to sign it?"

"Yeah, that's what a release form is for." He replied. She fully turned to him and put her hands on her hips.

"Meaning, you're going to have to tell them what you did for this experiment." She said. Andrew stopped typing mid-sentence. "Let me correct that," Emma stared again. "You're going to have to tell _Catherine_ what happened." Andrew visibly paled.

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but no sound was coming out. Emma looked at him. "Speak." She said.

He took a breath and a tirade of colorful words pierced Emma's ears. Andrew looked completely disheartened and Emma didn't know what to do. She looked around the apartment to find something to distract him.

"Look!" Emma said, grabbing a paper. "A really complicated math equation!" She shoved it at Andrew in an attempt to cheer him up. He looked at it then glared at her.

"That's from an experiment I can't figure out at work." He growled. Emma hastily crumpled it up and threw it behind her. "I needed that." Andrew said staring at the place where the paper lied.

"I thought you were good at that math stuff that has to do with chemistry… what's it called…. stoke-something?"

" _Stoichiometry_."

"Wow, chemistry. The only area where you can outdo me." Emma muttered. Andrew glared.

"Stoichiometry is very important for chemistry! If you have a chemical equation and use stoichiometry to turn the moles into grams, you'll have everything you need to know for an experiment!" Andrew defended. "What else can do that?!"

"Yeah, yeah," Emma said absentmindedly. "It's all very scientifical." Andrew visibly winced and just stared at Emma disbelievingly.

"Oy..." Andrew shook his head. "Just... oy... How exactly did you become a certified police officer?" Emma swatted his head.

"Ow!"

"Focus!"

"Well if I'm going to an early grave I might as well get it over with." Andrew declared. He grabbed the release forms and marched out the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew burst through the police department doors with his usual 'Andrew-flair'. Catherine and Steve were at Catherine's desk, and Robin was with Regina at his own desk. Emma hurried in behind Andrew, prepared to do damage control. He walked right up to Catherine and threw down a folded paper in front of her. Only a signature line was visible.

"Hey Cath, can I get your autograph?" He asked. Emma stopped in her tracks and facepalmed. Catherine looked at him.

"Why?" She asked shortly.

"Because you're basically a celebrity with all your badass detective work and bringing down all those bad guys and you're sort of like a hero, yeah a hero of the streets with a cape and-" Catherine interrupted Andrew's punctuation-less rant by snatching the paper and unfolding it. She read the contents of the release form and her face turned as red as a tomato.

"AH! Itwasforagoodcause!" Andrew said really quickly. She turned to him and if wasn't for her extensive police training she would have lunged over the desk and strangled him. Instead, she walked _around_ her desk and pinned him up against the wall. Everyone else rushed to calm the angry Detective Inspector.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Andrew is currently sitting in the emergency room nursing a black eye courtesy of one Catherine Rollins. Emma silently laughing beside him

"Don't say it." Andrew warned. Emma burst out laughing, holding her sides.

"You have to admit, you had it coming." Andrew scowled and swatted at Emma. Catherine, Steve, Robin and Regina walked through the doors and approached Andrew's bed. Catherine glanced at Andrew's eye.

"Aw, it's smaller that I had hoped." She said.

"Someone's got anger issues." Andrew muttered. Catherine's eyes blazed, but Steve caught her arm.

"You can't use him as a punching bag anymore! He's fragile!" Emma said. Andrew scoffed, and Robin laughed.

"I would say that's a bit inaccurate Emma." Robin said. Emma and Catherine looked puzzled.

"He's a rock climber." Robin continued. "And last week he climbed for four hours straight, then belayed for another two. And we go to the gym together every morning." Andrew looked triumphant. Catherine and Emma looked shell shocked.

"Wha.." Emma said.

"I think you want to get your hand checked for bruising." Robin said to Catherine. "It's kind of like... I don't know, punching a werewolf or... something."

"Because everyone's punched a werewolf..." Regina muttered.

"I think I'll be fine Robin. My Dad's a Navy Admiral and I have an older brother in the DUDs program I think I know how to throw a punch." Catherine said.

Andrew shrugged and said, "Well you never know Cath-" Catherine shot him a death glare. "-erine.." He quickly finished. Catherine raised her eyebrows.

"Hm, it's trainable" She said thoughtfully. Emma snorted.

"It!" She was holding her sides and laughing. Andrew scowled at her.

"Last time I checked I was not an 'it'" Andrew huffed crossing his arms across his chest dramatically.

"It's okay buddy." Robin said patting Andrews shoulder sympathetically. "But next time, let's try to not use this one as a subject for an experiment" He finished, pointing towards Catherine as he spoke.

"Yeah, I don't think that was your brightest idea." Emma said laughing slightly as she spoke.

"I'm glad you all find my pain amusing." Andrew rolled his eyes.

"Very." Regina said. Andrew's eyes widened and he looked appalled.

"Great, now even you're on their side?" Andrew said.

"I've always been, dear." She replied crossing her arms.

"Huh, you're all sadists." He said.

"It's not the first time I've been called that." Regina said calmly. Andrew glanced warily at her and slowly scooted away.

"Your girlfriend's scary." He muttered to Robin.

"I know." Robin replied. Regina smirked at both of them. Andrew shivered, but then pulled something out of his pocket.

"I'm already in the emergency room so... can I have your autograph?"


	7. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Robin, Regina, Emma, and Andrew were sitting down around a table at the local diner. Catherine and Steve were off on their own. Suddenly, the doors burst open.

"Dude life is so weird!" Brian said, bursting through the doors.

"Yeah it's weird, it's weird as hell." Andrew said, not thinking. "Wait. What?" Everyone just balked.

"So, that's just your natural response..." Emma said. She nodded. "That's yeah... uhh.." She facepalmed. "I really need to rethink my friends!"

"Aw, what happened to your face?" Brian asked.

"I was attacked by an angry polar bear." Andrew said.

"You guys sure he doesn't have a concussion." Brian muttered to Emma, "Because last time I checked we weren't on a cursed island or in the north pole."

Regina turned to Robin. "Um, dear... your friends are quite strange." Robin looked at her. She patted his arm sympathetically.

"I've noticed." He said.

"Hey!" The rest of them replied in unison as Robin held his hands up defensively. Just then, Emma's phone rang and a pirate's ringtone blared throughout the restaurant. Regina raised her eyebrow at Emma.

"Pirate song?" She asked. Emma rolled her eyes.

"My boyfriend set it. Don't ask." Emma picked up the phone. "Hey... yeah... k, cool I- hello? Hello? Damn." The connection was lost so Emma hung up the phone. Andrew laughed into his spaghetti.

"Trouble in paradise?" He teased.

"Hey, that black eye looks really good on you, want another one?" Emma said sweetly. Everyone burst out laughing while Andrew and Emma continued their 'glare-off'.


End file.
